Freesia and Manju Shage
by Amethyst Beloved
Summary: FINISHED! Prequel. Ever wonder how Takashi and Chiharu met in preschool, and why they're such good friends? Find out how these two fouryearolds kids came out to be so close to each other. Sequel found in ch 2 of Thanks For The Memories.
1. Freesia

A/N: Here's part two of my "Before They Remembered" series, staring my favorite CCS couple. I want to thank again all of those who reviewed Cherry Blossom and Little Wolf. The sequel is being written by lilhopeful89, and you can find it under my favorite stories.  
  
I. Am. Exhausted. If keeping up with school isn't bad enough, I'm not feeling well. Being under the weather is slowing me down, so my chapters won't be up until Fridays for now on.  
  
Foreword: For those who don't know, Freesias and Manju Shages (or Red Spider lilies) are Chiharu and Takashi's favorite flowers, and that's where I got the title.  
  
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Disclaimer: CCS belongs to CLAMP.  
  
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"Talking"  
  
'Thoughts'  
  
~*~(Next scene)~*~  
  
* Flashbacks *  
  
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Freesia and Manju Shage  
  
By: Amethyst Beloved  
  
Chapter 1: Freesia  
  
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"Why can't you ever tell the truth?" a voice yelled loudly enough to echo through the entire house.  
  
"What are you talking about?" someone screamed back. "I said I was at work, so I was at work!"  
  
Chiharu Mihara couldn't stand the fighting between her parents any longer as she ran in her room and hid in the closet. She hated the way they were always angry at each other. Even though she was only four years old, she felt as if it was all her fault. Maybe it was a mistake to tell her mother what she saw at the park.  
  
* Yesterday *  
  
To celebrate the first day of summer, Chiharu's baby-sitter decided to take her to the park. Although the little girl adored Mina, she wished that her parents could spend more time with her. Still, she respected the fact that they had jobs, and their time went to working.  
  
Chiharu skipped to the penguin slide and started to climb. When she got to the top, she looked at her surroundings and gazed at the beautiful Freesia flowers, which were next to the Manju Shages. She was going to have to go there next since it was her most favorite place in the park. Just as she was going to slide down, she noticed a familiar face in the distance. Chiharu was overjoyed to see that it was no one other than her father.  
  
'Yeah! Daddy came to see me!' she thought to herself as she slid down in a hurry. 'But how did he know I was at the park?'  
  
The answer was simple: he didn't. But Chiharu didn't know that. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that he had a woman in his company...who wasn't her mother. Her hair was yellow like the sun, her eyes were blue like the sky, and her skin seemed as white as snow. She definitely didn't seem to belong in Tomoeda. Chiharu's stomach began to churn as she watch the man who was her father caress and kiss the unfamiliar woman. Tears started to stream down her little cheeks as she realized what he was doing was wrong. She turned around to run towards Mina, and she asked if they could go home. The sooner she was away from the horrible scene, the better.  
  
Chiharu didn't run for long before she crashed into a little boy, causing her to tumble on the ground.  
  
"Oh man! I'm so sorry!" he apologized as he helped her up. "Oh no! I made you cry! Are you going to be all right? Can I make you feel better?"  
  
Chiharu looked at the concerned boy in front of her. He was quite tall, but he looked as if he was around her age. His hair was black, and it was cut very short. But his most distinguishable feature was the way he presented his eyes. They looked closed, and they hardly even seemed to be opened enough. How was he able to see?  
  
"Don't worry, you weren't the one who made me cry," she sobbed through her tears. "Thank you for helping me up."  
  
Before the boy could ask any more questions, Chiharu ran away. Even though he seemed like a nice person, she didn't want to stay at the park longer than she had to.  
  
* End of Flashback *  
  
"You will not be having an affair with some American transferred worker while you're under this roof!"  
  
"Fine! Then I'm leaving this house for god!"  
  
That was the last time Chiharu ever heard from her father again.  
  
~*~(The Park)~*~  
  
"Darn, she's not here again," the little boy said to himself. He knew it would be hard to find the girl with the brown pigtails. His heart ached to know if she was all right.  
  
~*~(Chiharu's House)~*~  
  
It's been a couple of weeks since the incident with her father leaving. Chiharu actually enjoyed the time she spent with her mother, and she started noticing changes around the household. With her father gone, there were no daily screaming sessions, and there was no more tension hovering in the air.  
  
"That's what happens when you pursue a summer romance," her mother would always say. "We should have gone our separate way in the fall, but we had an unexpected surprise."  
  
Chiharu couldn't help but feel guilty because she knew that she was the "unexpected surprise" her mother was referring to. The question was, did her mother regret having her?  
  
"Do you wish I was never born?" Chiharu heard herself ask one day in the kitchen.  
  
Her mother stopped chopping the vegetables so she could swiftly pick her daughter up to give her a loving hug.  
  
"Chiharu Mihara," she began. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me. Don't you ever forget that, young lady."  
  
Chiharu giggled as her mother ticked her stomach playfully.  
  
"I won't!" she squealed between her giggles. "I promise!"  
  
~*~(One month later)~*~  
  
The summer was winding down to an end, and little Chiharu started noticing even more changes. Her mother seemed to be in a brighter mood, and Mina was taking care of her for longer periods of time because her mother went out during the night and didn't come back home until after Chiharu's bedtime.  
  
One night, while Chiharu's mother was tucking her daughter into bed, she had a few announcements to make.  
  
"Since the summer is coming to an end, Mina can't take care of you as much as before," she started. "So I'm enlisting you to a pre-school."  
  
"That's nice, Mommy," Chiharu said slowly with mixed feelings. Part of her was excited to meet new people while the other part was scared. "What else do you have to tell me?"  
  
"I met someone new, and after a couple of dates with him, I think it's time we moved into a more serious relationship," her mother informed her with a far a way look in her eyes. "I think it's about time you two should meet each other. I hope you like Tai as much as I do."  
  
Chiharu ceased her eyebrows as the lights turned off, allowing the soft glow of the night light brighten the room. Her mother was already hurt by a man once before. How was she able to trust another person again?  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
To be continued...  
  
A/N: The next chapter will be titled Manju Shage, and it will be posted next Friday. Thanks to Peacewish's fanfics (which are incredible so everyone should read them!) I've experienced a crash course in child psychology. Based on what I learnt, I can conclude that Chiharu gained a close friendship with Takashi because she didn't have a solid male figure in her life. I could be wrong. Does this make sense, or am I totally out of the ballpark? Pease review, and let me know! 


	2. Manju Shage

A/N: I want to thank lilhopeful89 (remember folks, she's writing the sequel to Cherry Blossom and Little Wolf!), KawaiinessPnay, EcuaGirl and nagareboshi for staying with the series. I also want to thank KasumiDestruction, tenshi no ai, AnGeLgURl and Vesha for giving this story a chance. Last but not least, I want to give a special thank you to u l t i m e c i a for not only reading this story, but also my S&S prequel. I'm glad you liked it!  
  
Foreword: To make things really cute, Takashi isn't able to pronounce some of his words. That means 'da' is 'the', 'deir' is 'their', 'dunno' is 'don't know, 'hafta' is have to' and so on and so on forth. Hope it's not too confusing!  
  
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Disclaimer: CCS belongs to CLAMP.  
  
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Freesia and Manju Shage  
  
By: Amethyst Beloved  
  
Chapter 2: Manju Shage  
  
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"Eskimos who lived in da North Pole wanted to go down south to work on deir tans. Still, dey couldn't leave without a taste from home. So dat's why they invented frozen dinners," Takashi Yamazaki concluded, feeling pleased that he was able to make his father laugh.  
  
It was only the two of them. No more or no less. Takashi's mother ran off on both of them when he was just a baby. The two of them managed on their own even if Takashi had to do his best to learn how to cook and sew so he could help out his dad. It wasn't too hard since he had a talent for picking up skills. He already developed a love for math and computers.  
  
"Takashi my boy," began his father. "One day you're going to be a great story teller. Just make sure that your tales don't get out of hand."  
  
The four-year-old grinned. One of the main reasons he told stories was to keep his father in high spirits. He knew it wasn't easy to be both a father and a mother,  
  
"Can I go to the park, Daddy?" Takashi asked.  
  
"Again? You've been going there a lot these past few days," stated Mr.Yamazaki.  
  
"I know, but I'm looking for someone," answered his son.  
  
"Who is it?" questioned the man. "Maybe I know this person."  
  
Takashi closed his eyes to recall the girl's features. Everything may have happened very fast, but her image stayed in his mind.  
  
"She has da same color hair as da cabinet, and dey're in two cute pigtails with yellow ribbons," he began. "And she has big brown beautiful eyes. But maybe her eyes looked big because she was crying."  
  
"Why was she crying?" he asked, quickly eyeing the mahogany wood.  
  
"I dunno," he confessed. "Dat's why I hafta find her. I dunno if I made her cry."  
  
"Well, I guess you can go, but be back before dinner time."  
  
Takashi smiled as he ran to give his father a hug before he left.  
  
"Tank you Daddy!" he said, squeezing as tightly as he could. "I'll be home soon!"  
  
~*~(The Park)~*~  
  
It took some time, but she finally came back. She couldn't stay away for long.  
  
Chiharu was in her favorite part of the park. It was a secluded area where there were bushes of Freesia flowers that stayed fresh during the whole summer. The little girl stayed around the area for long periods of time, and she never realized that she adopted its scent. Suddenly she heard Mina calling her so she cut through the bushes to get to her baby-sitter to save some time.  
  
A few moments later, Takashi entered the clearing. If he only got there sooner, he would have found the girl that he was looking for. But he didn't know that.  
  
'Oh well,' he thought to himself. 'Might as well spend some time in my favorite place.'  
  
The little boy closed his eyes and breathed in. The Manju Shages were his favorite flower and scent, but there was also something intoxicating about the Freesias, which were close enough to look at, but far enough for its scent to stay separated from the Manju Shages. Still, he spent more time admiring the red petals of the spider lily.  
  
Just as he was about to leave after another useless search, something that was out of his element caught his eye. He approached the Freesia bushes to pull the long and satin item away from the leaves.  
  
It was a yellow ribbon. It must belong to that girl. It had to!  
  
Takashi clutched his prize and ran home. Maybe today wasn't useless after all.  
  
~*~(Takashi's House)~*~  
  
"Did you find her?" asked Mr.Yamazaki as his son bounced in the kitchen to help with dinner.  
  
"No, but I found the next best thing," said Takashi as he held up the ribbon for his father to see. "I found it in my favorite place."  
  
"Ah, I knew something was smelling sweet," the man teased.  
  
"Daddy!" he whined, blushing in the process. He didn't mean to smell like the flowers. It just happened.  
  
"Well, I'm sure any little girl would love that scent on you."  
  
"Daddy, which girl would ever like me? Even Mommy ran away from me when I was born," he joked with a heavy heart.  
  
Mr.Yamazaki frowned at his son's words as he picked him up and placed him on the counter so they were at each other's eye level.  
  
"You listen to me son," his father began in a stern yet loving tone. "Your mother ran out on us because she wasn't responsible. We can manage on our own. Do you understand?"  
  
Takashi gave his father a weak smile. How could he know for sure?  
  
"Hey Daddy, did you ever hear about da way cookies are an important part of every meal?" the four-year asked to push the thoughts out of his head.  
  
"Why don't you explain it to me after I tell you something important," Mr.Yamazaki replied.  
  
"What's happening?" Takashi asked with curiosity.  
  
"First of all, I've been promoted," the man began, pausing long enough to let his son cheer and congratulate him. "But I'll be working longer hours so I'll have to enroll you in the local pre-school. Do you mind?"  
  
Did he mind? Takashi was thrilled as he nodded his head eagerly, and hopped off the counter. He was so excited about telling the other kids his stories that he forgot to continue the one he started with his father. Takashi knew a brand new school was going to be great. He couldn't wait to start counting the days.  
  
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A/N: I hope you don't mind that it's too short. The chapters for my other stories are twice a long than the chapters of these stories. Next week I'll be posting the last chapter, and its title is "Pre-school". There's a lot of cuteness in store! In the mean time, please review! I cherish every single one. 


	3. Preschool

A/N: Here's the last chapter of this story. Yeah, yeah: I know it's short, but at least I'm consistent with the updates! I want to thank those who reviewed. Your thought mean a lot.  
  
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Disclaimer: CCS belongs to CLAMP.  
  
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Freesia and Manju Shage  
  
By: Amethyst Beloved  
  
Chapter 3: Preschool  
  
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Chiharu could remember having better mornings during her four years of life. The day just started, and her temper was already beginning to wear thin.  
  
She didn't want things to go wrong. It's just that she was so nervous about starting a new school, that while she was thinking of all sorts of things, she accidentally spilled her orange juice. Things didn't get better when she spent too much time cleaning her mess, and then her cereal got soggy. Nonetheless, the worse part was that she couldn't find her other favourite ribbon.  
  
"Chiharu! Are you ready yet?" Ms.Mihara called out from the front. "I don't want you to be late!"  
  
"Have you seen my other yellow ribbon?" Chiharu yelled back. "I was wearing it the last time I went to the park!"  
  
"There's no time now," answered the woman as she scooped up her daughter. "We have to leave!"  
  
In all the haste, neither one of them realized that Chiharu had only one yellow ribbon tied to her pigtail.  
  
~*~(Preschool)~*~  
  
"Stuffed animals use to be as tall as buildings. But sooner or later dey had to cut deir size down, or dere would not be any stuffing left in the city," Takashi explained to his new classmate who was drinking in every word. "So that is why stuffed animals are small enough to play with."  
  
"Wow, I never knew that," confessed his companion in disbelief. "You know a lot of things."  
  
Takashi gave the boy his classic grin, still never opening his eyes completely. Stories were always easier to make up when he didn't have to look at the person whom he was talking to directly.  
  
Preschool was a great place, Takashi decided as he placed his hand absentmindedly in the pocket to play with his latest acquisition. He treasured the yellow ribbon ever since he found it in the park, but he was willing to part with it in a heartbeat if it meant that he cold finally meet its owner.  
  
Takashi looked around in search of his next target. Suddenly he heard a soft and hardly audible sigh coming from behind him, and he was curious to see whom it was. When he turned around, he took a deep breath when he saw who it was behind him.  
  
It was her, and she looked more prettier than ever.  
  
She was sitting by the window, just looking at the clouds. She wasn't bothering anyone, and in return no one was talking to her. Well, Takashi was going to change that as he walked up to the only girl that he was interested in meeting.  
  
"Did you know dat long ago, all princesses wore ribbons on their hair?"  
  
Chiharu turned around to see who was talking to her, and she was surprised to come face to face with the same boy who she ran into at the park. She frowned as the memories from that day resurfaced.  
  
Takashi noticed her frown, and he was more determined than ever to make her smile.  
  
"Da reason why dey wore ribbons was because it made dem look very pretty," he continued. "And today little girls who wear ribbons are just as pretty as princesses."  
  
Chiharu smiled as she bent her head down bashfully. There was something charming about this boy.  
  
"You are lying," she told him in a solemn tone. "If you keep on lying, you are going to get in a lot of trouble one day."  
  
"I still t'ink you are pretty," Takashi stated making her smile wider. "Would you believe me if I told you that you have only one ribbon in your hair?"  
  
The little girl raised her hand to her head to see if he was telling the truth, and in fact she did have only one ribbon on.  
  
"Would you still believe me if I told you that I had da other ribbon?" he continued with an everlasting smile.  
  
Chiharu's eyes widen as the boy pulled out her other yellow ribbon out of his pocket, and she clapped her hands in delight.  
  
"Can I put it on you?" he asked softly, and then melting inside when she nodded yes.  
  
Takashi leaned forward and slowly tied a neat bow on her pigtail. He couldn't help but get a whiff of her sweet smelling hair. Was it just him, or did she smell like...Freesias?  
  
Chiharu leaned forward and patiently waited for him to finish. Ever since he came by, she noticed the scent of Manju Shages hovering in the air. But it wasn't until she was close up to the boy when she realized it was him.  
  
"My name is Takashi," he said. "What is yours?"  
  
"Chiharu," she answered. "And I still think that lying is wrong."  
  
"If I keep doing it, would you promise to still be my friend?" he asked hopefully. This would be a long leap for him, with his mother leaving him at a young age and all. Nevertheless, something inside Takashi insisted that Chiharu could be trusted.  
  
Chiharu, on the other hand, was taken back with his words. He wanted to be her friend! Well, if her new friend was going to keep lying, he might end up like her father. She couldn't let that happened.  
  
"I'll be your friend, and I will try to make sure that you do not get in trouble for lying," she told him as she slipped her hand into his.  
  
Takashi never stopped smiling as he gave Chiharu's fingers a gentle squeeze.  
  
"I hope dat means we will be friends for a long time."  
  
~*~*~*~*~  
  
The End.  
  
A/N: That's the end, and no, I will not be writing a sequel. Even though I have the E&T prequel next on my list, I still didn't write it out yet. I have another story idea, though.  
  
Naoko Yanagisawa has to be one of CCS fan fiction's most neglected characters, and the reason for that is probably that she's the only one in Tomoeda who's not in love. Why is that? Next week Friday, I'll try to post up a one-shot entitled "Naoko's Story". What happens when the only person you can trust betrays you? I hope everyone could check it out! 


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